Since I’ve started writing about video games, I thought I’d link to a few videos and discuss two of the games I am looking forward to most as 2011 comes to a close and discuss their history in some detail as well.
The first is Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. This will the fourth game in the series and the third game that is part of a story arc. In the game you play a young man named Desmond who is placed in a machine and can live out the memories of your ancestors. In the first game you met Altair, a Master Assassin from the Byzantine era of the Middle East, you travel around Syria, Jerusalem and more assassinating key figures in the Holy Wars, only to discover it was all a ploy of your mentor seeking power for himself in an item of much power, you defeat him, but what happens next in Altair’s legend remains unknown. In the second game you met Ezio, a young man learning the ways of becoming an Assassin during the Renaissance period of Italy. You face The Borgia, defeating The Pope and his sons through the second game and then a third called Brotherhood in which you start training Assassins yourself. You also become good friends with folks such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Copernicus and Machiavelli (so the game is really based on real history). In Revelations, you return to Ezio in his old age, in which Ezio is now seeking to find out what happened to Altair, before the first game and after. At the same time, Desmond is trapped in a special black world because of stuff that happened in Brotherhood. So you play as all three trying to piece together all the answers.
The first video just will show you how amazing the story telling, acting and animation is, especially in the upcoming game along with a commentary track from the developers.
Oh and the Game developers have so much love for the game and the series they even made a Live Action film called LINEAGE which is about Ezio’s father, who was also an Assassin.
They also put together an animated film called Ascendance.
And another animated film is coming out called EMBERS.
Oh and there have also been two books and a comic book, and these were not adaptations, but stories that take place in between the game or in the same world of the game, but in a different section!
Oh I forgot to mention that Desmond also has friends and partners in the games, helping him in the machine. There’s the hot blonde, voiced by Kirsten Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), the cute brunette tech girl and the British researcher.
Another game I am super excited about is UNCHARTED 3. Uncharted are the adventures of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter/former thief who believes he is the ancestor of Francis Drake. Following clues from ancient legends he finds the home of amazing treasures once thought real, but forever lost. In the first game he followed clues from Francis Drake to find the fabled El Dorado. In the second game, once again following clues from a diary by Francis Drake, Nathan goes in search of Shamballah. In the third game he will follow the lead of T.E. Lawrence in search of Iram of the Pillars. In the third game incluence will also be taken from the classic film “Lawrence of Arabia”. Drake has had various partners. His main one is Sully, an older dude who is really tough played classic character actor Richard McGonagle, Elena, a journalist played the lovely Emily Rose, Chloe a tough as nails Brit played by Farscape’s Claudia Black and Harry played Magician and Comedy actor Steve Valentine. The games have also featured Rene Auberjonois and Simon Templeman, the third game has very popular British actress Rosalind Ayres as the bad guy.
Nolan North plays Nathan Drake and he’s so good, he also plays Desmond in Assassin’s Creed and the voices are similiar but quite different, not a distraction as in going “Wait, he sounds just like Nathan Drake”.
Nolan is much more suited to play Nathan though, which you can see is this live action commercial for the third game starring Nolan North, it is very funny, Nolan is fantastic, sort of like David Boreanaz, Bruce Campbell and Nathan Fillion having a love child:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/08/25/uncharted-3-drakes-deception-collectors-edition-unboxed/
The game has also had a Motion Comic prequel.
It also has a comic coming soon and a novel telling a story not in the games by Christopher Golden.
Video games when you really analyze them like this have come a long long long way. I know most of know this, but how frequently do you sit down and think about it?